Sors Vita
by MrUkki98
Summary: Hermione and Severus find themselves in an alternate universe where they are married, they suffer to put up the pretence for those around them in the light of danger.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I am not J.K Rowling and am only borrowing her universe and characters to fulfil my own fantasy.

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><p>Prologue:<p>

Four years after the final war, wizarding Britain has returned to it's former glory. The defeater of You-Know-Who, Harry Potter is now happily married and a successful Auror. His best friend and decorated war hero, Ronald Weasley is a worldwide celebrity after achieving great success as a commercial Quidditch star. The brains of the Golden Trio has happily pursued a career in teaching at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Unfortunately the highly publicised relationship between Mr. Weasley and Ms. Granger had not lasted and ended in a rather quiet break up.

Shocking the wizarding world was the survival of former Headmaster Severus Snape who had survived the final battle after receiving timely medical aide by the school matron Poppy Pomfrey. Madam Pomfrey had told the press shortly after the pardoning of former Headmaster Snape that she had been conflicted about saving her former colleague and was happy that she had stuck to her principles as a medical professional. Former Headmaster Severus Snape has returned to his former teaching post at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and was also awarded the Order of Merlin First Class for his contribution to war.

Headmistress Minerva McGonagall watches as her once favourite student berated her beloved colleague at the head table. Professor Granger of Arithmacy had been arguing with Professor Snape of Potions over the unfair treatment of students. Professor Snape had recently allowed a Slytherin student hex a fellow student in the halls with only a couple of house points taken from Slytherin however had sentenced a Gryffindor couple a weeks worth of detention for snogging in the halls. Professor Granger had politely asked Professor Snape to reduce the punishment or reschedule the detentions to allow the Gryffindor Keeper to attend trainings.

"Severus, it is hardly fair that you let your Slytherin off without detention for hexing a student and force our Keeper in detention for a week. You know that the game is next week and I know that you're doing this to get and upper hand at the next Quidditch match." Hermione had tried to reason with Severus.

"Forgive me Professor Granger that I can't leave such inappropriate displays of action within the walls of Hogwarts unpunished. Should I have not been there your beloved little cubs would have stripped themselves bare in front of an audience. Mr. Kurt on the other hand had only been playing with his fellow classmate causing a slight disruption in the halls. " Severus Snape retorted back.

"A slight disruption? From what I remember Mr. Lee was knocked out on the floor by the time you had reached the scene and stopped the duel. While I doubt that Mr. Tegan and Ms. Richards were as indecent as you describe them to be."

Severus remains silent as he begins to ignore his fellow colleague and shifts his attention to his copy of the Daily Prophet. He picks up his cup of coffee to take a sip.

"I don't care what you think Professor Snape, but I'm going to get my students out of your unfair detentions and assign the appropriate detentions to your beloved misbehaving snakes." Hermione resigned as she started to rise from her seat.

Severus puts down his cup and glares at Hermione, "Don't you dare, Granger."

Hermione feeling threatened raises her voice, "Don't you dare what, Professor? Oh believe me that I will do what I believe in."

Professor Snape also stands up to place himself above the younger witch, disregarding the stares towards the head table.

"Now Severus, Hermione, I think that is quite enough, the students are staring. Maybe you two need some time apart today." Minerva had been enjoying the interactions until now but unfortunately she's unable to let the fight continue knowing the students would be discussing the incident for the next month.

At that Hermione storms out of the great hall and Severus returns to his coffee as he seats himself back down again. He quickly glares at the students who return their attention to their breakfasts in fear of the professors wrath.

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><p>Throughout the day Severus and Hermione avoided each other, they chose to stay in either their classrooms or their rooms. Both reflected on their earlier argument and both came to the conclusion that they were not going to backdown or make a compromise. The day had nearly come to a close when both professors were approached by students to solve another mess in the school.<p>

Severus was siting in his office grading some fifth year papers when he heard a knock at the door.

"Enter!" Severus yells at the door and a young first year student walks in.

"P...p...professor, Mr. Burke had sent me to tell you that Ms. Greengrass has been hurt. It seems that she got in the middle of a duel." The first year stuttered.

"Who started this fight? Where is it?" Severus quickly questioned his student.

"Mr. Kurk and Mr. Lee, sir. They were fighting in the Astronomy tower." The first year informed the Head of Slytherin who rushed out of his office.

At the same time Professor Granger was working on some of her research work when a fourth year student had walked in to her office.

"Professor Granger, it's about Mr. Tegan and Ms. Richards they are.. uhm..." The fourth year struggled to get her message across.

"What's wrong Ms. Jennings?" Hermione kindly prodded.

"They are engaging in sexual acts in the middle of the courtyard. The older students have managed to get the younger ones back inside but we couldn't get them to stop. It seems they are too distracted to notice their surrounding." Ms. Jennings explained as quickly as she could without getting red from embarrassment.

"Oh no, Ms. Jennings. Thank you for telling me, I'll head down to sort the problem. Help yourself to a piece of dental gum and head back to the Gryffindor tower if you want." Hermione said as she quickly exited her room and head down the staircases.

She was nearly at the courtyard when she bumped in to something hard. She felt compelled to grab hold of whatever she just bumped in to and found herself to be almost floating. She looked to see what she had just bumped in to and found herself facing the shocked face of Professor Snape.

Severus had been in a hurry to reach the Astronomy tower and tend to his students when he had bumped in to Hermione Granger. He had saw Professor Granger heading his way but had chosen not to dodge thinking Professor Granger would had moved aside seeing his state of hurry. Not only did she not move aside causing this collision but she was grabbing on to his finest pair of robes. Severus tried to get Hermione off of him in this gravity-less state, but some unknown force pulled his arms around the body of Hermione Granger.

The students watch their embracing professors fall gracefully on the stairs. They land softly and roll down the stairs together. When the professors reach the bottom of the stairs they miraculously find themselves still conscious and alive. They quickly let go of one another but once they let go they again feel the magical urge to hold on to one another. They both look at one another and extend their hands out to keep hold of the other but before their hands touch they fall unconscious.

The students gather around their fallen professors in shock.

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><p>AN: I don't think the writing style for this story will be the same as the prologue, but I hope you enjoyed the prologue.

Please leave a review if you can, constructive criticism is appreciated.


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Again, I'm not J.K. Rowling. I'm only a little fan who wants to borrow her magnificent characters and universe to fulfil my own little fantasies.

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><p>Chapter 1<p>

It was dawn, not that anyone could tell from the dark room. The curtains magically open to inform the occupants of the room the time. The two humans in bed stir, shift their positions until the man is now spooning the woman. A regular Sunday morning, a happy couple, what could go wrong?

Hermione blinked her eyes open to see the sunshine pouring through the windows. She suddenly became aware that she was being held by another being but in her half-conscious state decides to let her comfort continue. It isn't until she feels something warm and hard pressing at her backside that she realizes her current nude state. Believing it to be a nice dream she urges herself to fall back asleep.

Severus opens his eyes to face a massive curtain of curls and finds his hands aptly placed on top of a pair of lush breasts. Shocked he takes his hands off the woman's breasts, much to the protest of the little Snape down below. He tries to grab a hold of his surroundings but can't seem to place his location. As a last resort he shakes the woman next to him to rouse her only to recognize the face of Hermione Granger.

Hermione wakes in a jolt and faces her aggressor only to find her colleague and former professor naked and in bed with her. Quickly realizing that her previous situation may not be the beautiful dream that she had thought it was she grabs the blankets to cover herself as she scoots away from the man. Without the blankets Severus is now exposed to the cold air but thankfully is able to retain some sense of decency.

"What are you doing here child?" Severus sneers as he grits his teeth in the cold.

"Let me remind you Professor that I am not a child and am an esteemed colleague of yours that should be treated with respect!" Hermione returns coldly.

Severus and Hermione stare at one another to find a level of mutual understanding. The two start to recover from their mutual shock and examine the room once again.

"Where are we? Are these your rooms Ms. Granger?"

"No, they can't be. Too cold in here."

Severus whispers a warming charm to increase the temperature of the room. "What do you remember?"

"I was going downstairs to check on-" Hermione caught herself hoping not to reveal to Severus about the embarrassing situation her Gryffindors put herself in.

"If I remember correctly we had a head on collision at the staircases." Starting to feel uncomfortable about their current situation Severus suggests, "Why don't we get ourselves dressed first?"

Hermione nods in agreement, she starts to consider her possible dressing choices but before she makes a decision she notices the nightdress left on the bedside table. Severus also notices his underwear on the floor and slips it on before heading to examine the dresser in the room. When he opens the dresser he finds all his work robes in the dresser and recognizes the familiar feel of his wardrobe. Next to his work robes he finds a section of womans robes, he calls upon Hermione to check if the robes are hers.

However Hermione is distracted having found an odd looking wizarding photograph on the side table. "Severus, why don't you come over here first," Hermione prods her colleague. Severus protests that the confirmation of the contents of the wardrobe is more important but resigns when the witch insists that he come forward and take a look at whatever was on the bedside table.

On the bedside table is a picture of a happy family, one that looks so happy and full that it was taken out of some fairytale. But this was no ordinary family it was the most recent photograph of the Snape family. A bushy haired mother, a sullen looking father and their two smiling sons. However the parents in this photograph have no recognition of having took the photograph or any recollection of the two children in the photograph. Both Hermione and Severus look down at their hands to see that both of them are wearing wedding bands. Wedding bands that Severus recognizes as a Prince family heirloom, one that he inherited when his uncle passed away childless.

Suddenly there is a knock at the door and the door is pushed slightly ajar. Hermione and Severus look over to see the little round face of a brown haired boy, the very same one in the photograph.

"Mom, Dad, Em told me to come and tell you that it would be most ap- appry- appreciated if you could come down and start breakfast." The young boy spoke eloquently despite his slight stumble at the word "appreciated."

Severus and Hermione stare at each other trying to get a grasp of the current situation. Hermione figures that "Em" must be the older boy in the photograph. "Okay love, we'll be out in a minute." Hermione manages.

The young boy closes the door behind him and leaves. "That was..." Severus tries to speak but is lost for words.

"It seems that he is our younger son and "Em" would be our older son." Hermione states as though responding to a question in class.

"But that can't be, we just bumped in to each other. We weren't married, we definitely didn't have children." Severus rambles on as he tries to run through his logical processes.

Hermione sits back down on the bed and tries to think of explanations for their current situation. "Severus, I can think of three possible scenarios that can lead to this situation. One is that we have somehow lost our memories. The other two centers around the idea of an alternate universe." Hermione explains.

"An alternate universe you say, Professor Granger. Like the silly muggle theories by those silly muggle scientists?" Severus snaps.

"Well, it's not like you have a better theory. Going back to alternate universes, this could be a dream reality caused by our fall. Or it could be something more sinister, something to do with magic-"

At the door, "Mom, Dad, are you not going to come out? Em is bothering me."

Severus huffs, "Alternate reality or not we need to go out and fix some food for those brats or they'll start storming in to these rooms."

Hermione sighs as she yells out, "Coming, love." She pulls on a jacket on top of the nightdress and slips out the door. She notices the corridor is darkly lit and leads to an open kitchen, dining and sitting area with a fireplace at the sitting area. Severus follows Hermione out and a sense of familiarity rushes over him. He finally recognizes that the rooms that they have found themselves in are his own personal quarters that has been changed in such a way that he couldn't recognize his own room.

A black hair boy sits on the floor playing with a cat and runs towards his mother the second he catches sight of her. He stands still in front of Hermione and salutes her with a "Good morning, Madam!"

Hermione composes herself and replies, "Good morning, Em." Hermione smiles and sees her son break in to a stunning smile. Hermione thinks to herself that she wouldn't mind having a child like the boy in front of her.

Severus stares at a mirror image of his younger self smiling at his colleague. The boys smile turns in to a frown when he sees his father and returns to his place in front of the fire with the cat. Severus looks around and finds the other little boy cuddled up in an armchair with a book, he recognizes the bookish trait as very much his own. However remembering the cold reaction he got from the older boy, Severus figures that even in this strange reality he's not much better of a father than his own.

Severus heads towards the kitchen to find Hermione looking around to cook. Severus sneaks up behind her and whispers, "Professor Granger, it appears that we may have found ourselves in my private quarters."

"Well at least now we know we're still inside Hogwarts." Hermione looks around the kitchen trying to figure out what she should prepare for breakfast. "Severus, what do you usually have for breakfast?"

"Professor Granger, I have told you a dozen times to stop referring to me as Severus like I'm your friend. I'm your colleague and you should refer to me as Professor Snape."

"Well, I don't see Minerva doing that or Filius, or most of the staff calling you anything but Severus for that matter. I, on the other hand had decided that I will speak in a casual manner to all my colleagues when I started my post at Hogwarts. Your permission is not required, I will refer to you as I see fit." Hermione huffed. "Now, Severus. What do you think our hypothetical family will normally eat for breakfast?"

"Eggs and toast." Severus replied decisively. He was rather fond of a simple breakfast and that was what he would fix for himself when he didn't attend breakfast at the great hall.

"Now, Severus, you can't keep on calling me Professor Granger in front of the kids. Plus we don't even know the name of the younger one. I can't just keep calling him 'love' and I don't think that's how you address them. Plus, I doubt his name is actually 'Em' either." Hermione calmly said as she reached the magical refrigerator for some eggs. "Why don't you go back in to the room and see what information you can find."

Severus nodded and headed back in to the room, he passed the boys along the way and saw the older boy glare at him. Severus went in to the room and decided that there were a few things that needed to be sorted out. They needed the current date, the birth certificates of the children and maybe the marriage certificate if it exists. Severus looked around the room and wondered where the couple would store these important documents. Severus automatically decided that he should check the storage box under the floor where he stored most of his important documents.

He tapped his wand on the floor and removed the lid. The first thing he noticed was the great increase in paper work that he had stored. He whipped out his wand and quietly voiced, "Accio children's birth certificates." Two pieces of paper started flying out from under the stack of papers. Feeling satisfied that his summoning charm had worked he moved on to his next task, "Accio wedding certificate." At that another piece of paper flew up, out and landed next to Severus.

Severus picks up one of the papers, the birth certificate of his younger son. It reads:

_Wizarding Birth Certificate_

_Wizarding Society of the United Kingdom_

_Name: Celedonius Wulfric Snape_

_Date of Birth: August 21, 2001_

_Location of Birth: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

_Father: Severus Tobias Snape_

_Mother: Hermione Jean Snape nee Granger_

_Signed by M. Nifter_

_Head of Department of Magical Death and Births_

Severus then took a look at his older sons birth certificate and learns that his elder son's full name was Emeterius Percival Snape. The child was born on November 14, 1999 only a year after the end of the war. The birth certificates were proof that this was not the future for Hermione and Severus but rather an alternate universe. Severus greatly hoped that it was all a nightmare and if he falls asleep he will be in the Hospital Wing being cared for by Poppy. On the other hand he smiled that he had named both his children after his former mentor but frowned at his alternate selfs choice of naming his sons after saints as is customary in the muggle Snape family.

He took a look at the marriage certificate to find that the couple were married on March 31, 1999. After doing some quick calculations Severus figured that it was a shotgun marriage done for the sake of elder son Emeterius who should have been conceived the month before. Severus wondered if the relationship of this alternate couple was good, but after remembering the obvious remains of sex this morning he concluded that this couple was rather happy. He next thought back to Emeterius's reaction this morning and wondered why a bad father would have two children.

Celedonius walked in to the room, "Dad, breakfast is ready." After he was done announcing what he had to announce he walked out of the room. Severus quickly returned the documents in to the hole and sealed it before following after his son.

Severus sat himself down at what he assumed would be his seat at the small round table in the dining area. Emeterius growls as he sat himself across from his father, Celedonius takes the seat to the right of Severus. Hermione calls from the kitchen, "Severus, love, could you come in and take some of the plates for me?"

Severus cringes at the word "love" but gets back up and heads to the kitchen, he casts a muffliato and whispers to Hermione. "The older one, his name is Emeterius Percival Snape born November 14, 1999. The younger one is Celedonius Wulfric Snape born August 21, 2001. We were married on March 31, 1999. I assume it was a shotgun marriage." Severus picked up one of the plates.

Hermione placed another toast on one of the plates, "I guess we can cross out the amnesia theory, then. The youngest one seems to go by the name Don, for your information. Also the day is Sunday, November 20, 2005 according to the Daily Prophet." Hermione picked up two plates and headed towards the dining area.

Severus lifts the muffliato and pockets his wand as he picks up the other plate. At the dining table the children stay quiet as they quickly eat their toast and eggs. Throughout breakfast Celedonius remains quiet as he sneaks glances towards his book lying on the armchair he had previously occupied. Emeterius continues to glare at his father across the table, Severus remembering the reactions of his own father sneers back at his son.

After breakfast, Hermione leaves the dishes to Severus who uses a simple housekeeping spell to clean off the table and the dishes. Exhausted Hermione sits down on the sofa and is joined by her older son who snuggles up to her. Despite feeling out of place Hermione pulls her arm around her son and holds him tight as she examines his features.

Emeterius has a thicker and drier version of Severus's straight, oily hair. His eyes were much like his fathers, dark and cold eyes. However somewhere behind those eyes was a flickering warmth that existed in Hermione's own eyes. He had Hermione's nose but the rest of Emeterius made him an exact carbon copy of his father. His mouth while unnoticeable by his wide grin as he was held in Hermione's embrace was the very same that sneered and smirked at the students of Hogwarts.

Looking to the corner, she found the smaller boy with dark brown curls and brown eyes fixed to a book. Despite being brown and bright, Hermione found her younger sons eyes cold and detached as though he was not in this world. The boy had a poorly fitting large and hooked nose, but Hermione imagined that the boy would be quite handsome when he grows in to the nose. Hermione could connect to her son's love for reading and could very much see a younger version of herself curled up in a corner with a book when she sees her son.

Severus signalled for Hermione to follow him in to the room as he entered the room. Hermione made sure that both sons were preoccupied when she left them to join Severus in the room. Severus waved his wand and the door closed behind Hermione.

"So Professor Granger, what are your ideas?" Severus says as he paces around the room.

"Well I think we should first test the possibility of simultaneous dreams." Hermione responded.

"So you're saying that maybe if we take a nap we might wake up and find ourselves back in Hogwarts on November 20, 2002?"

"Well, we should at least try." Hermione replied as she patted the bed next to her signalling for Severus to join her in the bed.

Severus and Hermione lie down in bed side by side, they close their eyes willing for sleep to come.

The two wake with a jolt when they hear a knock at the door. Severus curses under his breath as he finds himself back in the same odd alternate reality that he tried to escape. "Who the bloody hell is it?" Severus yells at the door. "It better not be you, Emeterius Percival Snape!" Severus opens the door.

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><p>I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope the update wasn't too slow. I'm personally not too happy with the narrative style that I have going on, but I guess it's too late to change it now.<p>

Again, please comment. Constructive criticism is most welcome.


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Not that I believe anyone would think this, but I'm not J.K. Rowling. I'm an avid fan of her books and like them so much that I just want to borrow them for a short while.

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><p>Sors Vita- Chapter 2<p>

"Well, good morning Severus"

Minerva McGonagall was enjoying her morning stroll when she saw the two young Snape boys playing on the grounds unsupervised. Feeling that her colleagues would be worried sick if they noticed their boys missing she had round them up and brought them down to the dungeons right away. Judging by her beloved colleagues annoyance at her disturbance she now wondered if she should have kept the boys at her quarters until lunch instead.

The headmistress looked past Severus to find her former student under the blankets. She noted the Potions Professors disheveled look and after putting one and two together, she felt her anger rise.

"So you let your two sons run around the grounds just because you couldn't keep your hands off each other? How old are you two? Seventeen? You know how dangerous it is to let your boys roam out there, what would you have done if Death Eaters had swooped in and kidnapped them?"

Severus was both shocked and confused about his employers outburst. Death Eaters could never enter Hogwarts and ever since the end of the Final Battle most Death Eaters had been rounded up and killed. He looked behind Minerva to find Emeterius hiding, he assumed it had to do with his outburst before he opened the door. On the other hand Celedonius had his head hanging low in a signal of guilt.

Hermione had shot straight out of bed the second Minerva's rage filled the room. She slowly approached the Headmistress, "Minerva."

"I've had enough of this. I'll take the boys for the day. Severus, keep on your toes, you know that he isn't as trusting of you as he last was. I assume to see you two at dinner tonight to get the kids." With that Minerva took the two boys by the hand and approached the floo to floo back to her quarters.

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><p>The rest of the day Hermione and Severus tried to figure out how they ended up where they did and what is happening in the world they currently find themselves in. They started by evaluating their failed attempt at returning to their own world through sleep.<p>

Hermione sketched out her two major theories for their current predicament. The first being the two are sharing simultaneous dreams after their collision at the staircases. They are most possibly in some sort of comatose state and are creating this reality by themselves. Unfortunately forcing sleep doesn't seem to reverse the condition, while it could be possible that the condition will reverse itself if they fall in to subconsciousness using other methods. While the most possible method of return would be the reenactment of the collision, the risk of a concussion is far too large to risk.

Another possibility is some magical spell being cast on them that had brought such hallucinations to the two. Severus was more inclined to this theory having recalled the peculiar magical signature that was present when they had collided on the staircases. However neither Hermione nor Severus could recognize the magical signature or know a spell that could create such a realistic vision. They decided that more research would have to be done if they find themselves still in this reality by the next morning.

The two had a more pressing task at hand of getting a hold of their current situation. Minerva's warning about Death Eaters and the mysterious 'He' had piqued the couples curiosity. Death Eaters were no longer a threat in their timelines most remaining Death Eaters having been executed within months of the fall of the Dark Lord. The only few that remained were the few redeemed Death Eaters through efforts towards the light during the fall of the Dark Lord.

"What do you think Minerva meant about the Death Eaters?" Hermione asked her colleague carefully.

"I'm thinking that this universe may not be as safe and nice as our own. We already know that it's completely separate from our universe through the existence of our marriage and children." Severus replied.

Severus considered the possibilities, he wondered if the Final Battle had not occurred in this universe or if the Final Battle did not end the war as it did in their universe. Was it possible that the Deatheaters were still at large and not persecuted in this timeline or were the few that remained suddenly turning their backs on the light. Severus shivered at the thought of something much more sinister, the revival of the Dark Lord himself after the final battle. Severus looked at his Dark Mark and found nothing out of place, which is expected considering the Dark Mark had remained even after the death of the Dark Lord.

Hermione decided some heavy research about the situation outside the walls of these chambers had to be done before they find a way to leave this retched timeline. Hermione has always wrote a weekly log and have archived it over the years she decided that would be a good place to start. On the other hand she remembered Severus also kept a report on his war efforts when he was a spy for the order, "Severus, do you think you reports for the order exist in this universe?"

Severus remembered the large pile of papers he found in his secret keep place and realized that those extra papers may have been the extra reports for the order that he would have had to write if the war was still going on in some form outside the castle. "I think they do still exist. Do you have any other form of documentation of your life? A diary or something?"

Hermione nodded and walked over to the closet to find her bag and sighed in relief when she located it. Severus also walked over to his personal keep place, he hesitated for a second before opening the safe wary of an others presence but decided to open it anyway. At the same time Hermione reached in to her bag to pull out her log but realized there would be several log she would need to look at, with that she pulled out her wand and summoned a large pile of logbooks out of her bag.

Hermione heard a noise outside and a few seconds later the bedroom door burst open. Severus shut the secret safe shut and looked to identify the intruder. "Emeterius, have I not told you to knock before entering?" Severus raised his voice at the boy still recovering from the shock of an intruder.

Emeterius stepped back and looked at the ground ashamed, behind him was his younger brother Celedonius. Emeterius had run out of the Headmisress's quarters hoping to return home and his brother had followed despite his initial protests. Hermione felt her maternal instincts kick in seeing the upset expression on the older boys face, she pulled her arm around the two boys protectively and glared at Severus. She lead the two boys out as she picked up her pile of log books.

Severus sighed at the scene that had unraveled in front of him, it had reminded himself so much of his childhood. His fathers abuse and his mothers protective stance, it always surprised him why his mother had stuck with his abusive father. He again wondered why the alternate Hermione would have chose to be with a man like his alternate self, a man so much like his father that he wouldn't be surprised if he was a wife-beater as well.

Severus returned to the task at hand and reopened his secret safe and pulled out the top layer of documents and started to read.

Outside Hermione continued to keep a firm grasp on her two sons, she didn't know what had came over her but to see the child so upset had riled up something within her. She looked at her older son, "You know your dad didn't mean to yell at you." She said as she rubbed her hands up and down the boys arms like how her own mother used to do when she was upset.

"No, he meant it. Dad always means it." Emeterius responded, trying hard to stop the tear falling down his face.

"It was Em's fault anyway. He should have knocked and we should have stayed at Granny Minnie's" Celedonius said.

"Why did you come over anyway?" Hermione prodded her son.

"I wanted to apologize for running out like that. I know you keep on telling us not to. Even worse I took Don with me, so I wanted to say sorry for everything," Emeterius answered.

Hermione looked at the boy and became upset with herself. She had no idea how this version of herself would have reacted to these children or what kind of father Severus was. Frustrated and lacking the proper parenting skills Hermione could only say, "Don't worry about it Em. Why don't you go play with that alchemy set over there with Don?"

With that the two boys looked confused, talking to their mother had always lead to a feeling of relief but today they felt like their issues were not resolved. However the boys didn't feel comfortable objecting their mother when she was so out of it and took her advice and played with the alchemy set.

Hermione was slightly worried when she saw the boys initial reaction to her suggestion but was relieved when they took the suggestion. Knowing it wouldn't be a smart idea to leave the children alone again she took out the earliest log book and started to read. She found that the first log book that covered her fifth and sixth years at Hogwarts were as she had wrote them in her timeline. Noticing this she figured that by reading her own diary she would be able to find where her own timeline had diverged in to this timeline.

Severus had already found upsetting information that he was still a spy for the order in the present time. Not only were the Death Eaters at large his detailed reports about his interactions with the Dark Lord showed that he too was alive in this reality. However his position amongst the Death Eaters has fallen, however the reason as to why is not made clear in his most recent reports. He has to look back to find out.

Hermione had started skimming her journal for the year where she, Ron and Harry have gone out in search of horcruxes. Everything was like her own journal and to her own memory until she reached the day where the locket was destroyed with the Sword of Gryffindor. Hermione was engrossed with her own story as she read how she had followed the patronous after seeing it from afar and had found herself face to face with Severus Snape. She read about how she was enraged and had attempted to assassin the wizard on the spot and run back to tell Harry that the sword was laid as a trap. However she was too weak, too hesitant to kill the man she had once respected for his intelligence. The then headmaster had been curt and had left the words Dumbledore had once used to trust him and in Hermione's second of hesitance Professor Snape had apparated away.

From then on Hermione found herself falling in love with the Severus Snape within her logbook. She felt herself connecting to the conflicting feelings of her younger self when faced with the possible darkness of Snape but also the small opening of salvation that Snape could bring. After the event at the forest, the alternate Hermione had started to contact the Headmaster at Hogwarts through former Headmaster Phineus Black's portrait. Through these brief contacts her alternate self had started to develop feeling for the darker man.

Severus continued to read backwards and had finally found the reason for his fall in popularity within the Dark Lords circles. The Dark Lord had identified him as a possible traitor due to his continued often suspicious behavior. Another thing that had upset the dark wizard was his marriage to a muggle-born witch and his quarter blood children. The Dark Lord was not please to hear the news considering his most beloved half blood, his doppelganger in so many ways had chosen to further taint his magical bloodline with the blood of a mudblood witch.

Hermione was drawn to the blossoming love story written in her journals. In this version of history she had been the one to find Severus dying from the snakes bite. She had returned to the shrieking shack while the rest had gone to fight to mourn for the man she had come to have feelings for. Her pitiful cries had drawn the phoenixes attention and it's tears had saved a dying Snape long enough for Hermione to escort him to the infirmary.

The feelings on Severus's side only seemed to have started from this point where his gratitude had been repaid by several brief dates with the witch much to the witches delight. However a few dates did not suffice for Hermione's greed and she in the end had approached Snape to take her in as a potions apprentice. While working as the Professors assistant her efforts had finally paid off and her relationship with Severus had begun to take off. By the winter of 1998 and 1999 the couple were relatively happy with one another and had no qualms that they would have a lasting relationship.

In early March of 1999 she had found herself pregnant and had considered the option of abortion. However Severus was ecstatic to hear they would be expecting a child and was on his knees proposing marriage on the spot. The couple was married within a month of a discovery and Emeterius was born 8 months later as part of the baby boom that occurred after the end of the war. Hermione had laughed at the part about the naming of her son where Severus had been opposing of following family suggestion of naming his children after Saints but Hermione having always been nostalgic had been able to convince him on using the name.

Severus continued to read his reports and found that on August 21, 2001 after three years of peace the Dark Lord had risen from his grave. Severus was summoned along with all the surviving Death Eaters including the large number of Death Eaters awaiting a dementors kiss within the walls of Azkaban. The report had been very professionally written but there was a small note that the summon had come when he was at a family event. That was when Severus remembered.

Hermione read about her first three years with her son and how she had gone from a Potions mistress to a full fledged Arithmetician. Her second son was conceived on her eldest sons second birthday, it was the result of their little celebration. Her son, Celedonius Wolfric Snape was born on August 21, 2001 the same day the Dark Lord had been resurrected for a second time.

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><p>That is it, I know many of you are curious as to why the couple has been sent to this strange and dangerous alternate reality but I can assure you the reason won't upset and I am going to keep it hanging for now. As for now, there are even more mysteries that need to be solved.<p>

Also since it is soon approaching exam period, I expect that I won't be able to update this story as often as I would like. However I promise you, my readers that I will update often after the exam period.

Anyhow, please leave a review and constructive criticism is always welcomed.


	4. Chapter 3

Sors Vita- Chapter 3

Firstly, thank you to all my followers and all those who left a review. They really give me the push needed to continue and make the story even better.

I know many of you have been waiting for this chapter and I apologise. I'm a university student so as many of you may notice it was exam season and that means hardcore studying. I haven't forgotten about this and will try to post a few chapters in quick succession to make up for it. After that I will try to stick to one chapter per week, keyword is try.

Disclaimer: Being the responsible fanfiction writer that I am I remind you all that I am not J.K. Rowling nor do I own the Harry Potter universe.

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><p>After learning about the unfortunate circumstances of her son's birth Hermione turned to watch her two son's. Several hours had passed since she had suggested to her son's to play with a alchemy set and to her surprise they were still at it. She watched as the older brother picked on the younger brother, ordering him to mix different color liquids together. Celedonius looked uncertain but without questioning his brother he combined a light blue liquid with the clear one and poof a tiny explosion had occurred. Emeterius was rolling on the ground in laughter, yelling, "I can't believe a smart kid like you fell for it!"<p>

Celedonius was recovering from the shock of the explosion, he had knew that mixing the two liquids would give an unfavorable result but had listened to his older brother anyway. Hermione looked at the shocked expression on the younger boys face and turned to her eldest, "Em, that wasn't very nice. Why don't you apologize to your brother?"

At the sound of his mothers voice Emeterius calmed his laughter and turned to his younger brother. "Sorry 'bout that Don," Emeterius said as he smoothed out his younger brothers hair which had went slightly askew from the blast. Emeterius heard his brothers stomach growl and realized that he was fairly hungry himself. "Mom, isn't it time for dinner at the Great Hall?"

Hermione glanced up at the clock on the wall, the Dungeons being underground didn't look different during the day than it did in the night. She jumped up noticing that it was time for dinner and remembered her employers comment about dinner when she was at their quarters. "Oh, it is. I'll just go get your father."

Hermione headed towards the rooms she had found herself in this morning. She considered knocking the door but decided not to, being all too aware that the potions masters quarters were quite small and the children would be quick to pick up the oddity. Hermione opened the door to see her colleague hunched over a pile of newspapers. It seems that Severus had taken the academic approach in grasping the realities of the alternate universe. Hermione hesitated for a second before softly speaking, "Severus, it's time for dinner at the Great Hall. I expect that Minerva will fuss if we don't show up like she requested."

Severus looked around to see the woman at the door, he raised his wand to close the door. "What have you learnt?" He asks as he picks up the newspaper with the headline, "You-Know-Who Returns- Is This The End For Wizarding Britain?" He stands up and approaches the woman with a dark look in his eyes.

Hermione took a step back to find herself up against the door, fearing her colleagues intense look Hermione could only manage a small nod. Severus continued to approach enraged by what he had learnt. He had enjoyed his last few years of relative peace and freedom to find himself stuck in a foreign alternate universe. To him it was bad enough that he had to keep up the rouse of being married to the witch and a father but now he learnt that he had to pretend to raise a family while serving the dark lord made him further wish that he could return to his universe. In a matter of moments, Severus was right in front of Hermione and placed his hand on the door. "What else do you know? Speak!" Severus growled at the woman.

"I..." Hermione struggled to find her tongue, unable to move and escape the eyes of the Potions Master. "I... found out that he returned when Don was born," Hermione managed. She noticed Severus's expectant look and gathered the courage to continue. "We met that night, the night you sent the Sword of Gryffindor," Hermione looked up to see if she should continue. Seeing that Severus had yet to cut her off she continued, "I started to realize your true loyalties then and saved you at the Shrieking Shack." Severus continued to stare at the witch uncertain where the story was going, "I seemed to have taken a liking for you and-"

"Enough." Severus cut the witch off realizing that she was above to retell the love story of two strangers who happen to share their names. He removed his hand from the door and opened it. Severus stepped out of the room, looked back at Hermione and spoke, "You said Minerva will be upset if we missed dinner." Without looking back he walked towards the living room and refrained from making eye contact with his children.

Hermione was upset that Severus had cut her off as she explained their backgrounds here in this foreign world. She had found the love story of their alternate selves to be quite romantic and had wondered if their alternate selves were any reflection of their true selves. Hermione herself had found herself connecting with the alternate self in the journal. Before she could ponder more on the subject, she heard Severus mention dinner and walk off without her. She quickly followed the older man's footsteps and told her sons to get up to go to the Great Hall.

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><p>At the Great Hall, Severus found that the staff was mostly unchanged from the staff that he worked with in his own reality. He spotted four empty chairs beside the Headmistress as he opened the staff entrance door. His eldest son took a dash for the seat next to the Muggle Studies teacher and the younger followed suit. The two children argued a little and the younger son resignedly walked off to sit in the chair next to the Headmistress. Unsure of where to sit considering his seat was always next to the Headmistress as the Deputy Headmaster he decided to take the closest seat available next to his younger son. His so-called wife took the seat next to him as she would as the Head of Gryffindor.<p>

"How nice of you to join us Severus," Minerva said, "We were beginning to think you won't show." Minerva ruffled Celedonius's hair as a greeting to the younger one, gave a brief nod to her Arithmancy professor before winking at the older Snape boy.

"We were a little caught up, my apologies Minerva," Severus replied to his long time colleague. He decidedly started cutting up the steak that was served for dinner that evening. Without looking at the looks of the rest of the staff as he started eating his own food. Which to Severus seemed to be the most logical thing to do as they had walked in to the dinner late. Beside him, Hermione was doing much the same as she ate her salad.

Celedonius stared at his steak hungrily but unable to eat it while his brother on the other side glared at their parents before trying to cut his steak by himself. Minerva noticed this oddity and finally spoke, "Goodness Severus, did you two get in to a quarrel?"

The rest of the staff murmured, as someone said, "Odd, of Severus to not serve his wife and children first before eating."

Another staff member added, "I hope they didn't fight, last time they did all the brooms went missing."

"Not like Hermione to not fuss that her son is using a knife."

Severus and Hermione looked around at the separate discussions occurring at the headtable and all the students who had shift their attentions from their dinner to the table. They knew that this was ought to happen if they were stuck in this dimension long enough but they didn't think they would end up here for the whole day. "No, Minerva, me and M-" Severus caught himself before referring to the witch by her surname, "My wife did not quarrel. I've just had a rather trying day today."

Severus picked up his plate and swapped it with the witch's, "Help Emmeterius cut his steak will you, dear?" He managed to get the words out, he looked across the table to see if his address of his wife was somehow incorrect and was relieved to see the table satisfied with his performance. Severus inwardly smirked at his success before he reached for his son's plate and cut up the steak in to smaller bite-size pieces. His fellow colleague followed suit as she took the knife out of her son's hands and cut the steak for him.

Not to Severus's surprise the entire dinner was rather awkward and awful with his son glaring at him from behind his mother. While the Snape glare was quite intimidating on a grown man the glare was not as frightening coming from a child as he neatly returned the glare. He didn't quite understand why the boy was reacting in that way considering the rest of the staff had just labeled him as an excellent family man. He wondered where his assumption of this alternate selfs character had went wrong. He had assumed that he was as poor of a father as his own and had chosen during his short day here mimicking his father's parental model. However the staff's expectations of his character did not fit in with his own image of his father. In the end Severus concluded that the alternate Severus was as two faced of a father as he was a spy.

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><p>At night, after some difficulty in figuring out the routine; the two parents take turns watching over their two sons in the bath before putting the children in to bed while the other parent is allowed some time to themselves. According to the children it was Hermione's turn to supervise the bathing of the children where both children continuously protested to be left to bathe alone. Severus was much relieved to be lifted of the child caring burden and had retreated to his rooms the second he walked back in to his quarters.<p>

Hermione struggled to take care of the two young children with one refusing to bathe and the other refusing to bathe in the presence of his mother and younger brother. While she could feel that she would be loving and caring mother to her children, at her current age and situation Hermione found herself lost in the role of a mother. Exhausted after the supervision of bath time, Hermione had left the children in their room to change in to their night clothes.

In their room the two boys were lost, neither of their parents would ever leave them in their own room to change. While Emeterius had been asking to be left alone for the last week since he had just turned 6, his mother had always liked to fuss over their attire and his father never trusted them to dress in an appropriate manner. Feeling odd but slightly empowered Emeterius ran to his favorite closet to grab his favorite Appleby Arrows pajamas and put them on.

Celedonius was left staring at his pile of pajamas with no idea which on to wear. His mother always helped him to choose his pajamas because he had no opinion on aesthetics, his father on the other end always told his to stick with three colors, black, white and green. Celedonius looked at his brother hoping to get an opinion on what to wear.

"Wear your green pajamas, it's the safest," Emeterius told his brother as he grabbed the said pajamas and handed them over to his brother. Emeterius watched as his brother slowly put on his pajamas. He thought back to his parents odd behavior today: their inattentiveness when they ran out, his mother's strange detachedness when talking with them, their parents lack of gross displays of affection at dinner, his fathers inattentiveness at dinner, his mother not fussing over their dressing and his parents not arguing over who gets to spend time with them tonight. All these oddities made Emeterius feel like his parents are really far away, like they were going to disappear any moment. "Don, don't you think Mom and Dad were being really weird today?" Emeterius asked his brother who had finished dressing.

Celedonius nodded, the strange atmosphere was awfully familiar and Celedonius remembered that his parents had acted similarly a few months ago. While the two brothers acknowledged their worries they huddled up next to each other when there was a knock at the door. The door opened and at it was their mother.

Hermione walked in to the small room with only one double bed in the middle and the room divided in to two different sides. She found her two boys sitting on the bed huddled up together in an intimate embrace and despite not understanding how she felt, she understood that something was wrong. She approached the two boys and pulled them in to a tight hug before asking, "What's wrong, love?"

Emeterius and Celedonius took turns explaining how odd their parents were acting and their fears. Celedonius in the end added, "Are you and Dad really going to get a divorce this time? Are we going to have to live with Granny Molly?"

At that Emeterius started to cry remembering the arguments a few months back when his dad had told them that they would have to live with mom and his mom had told them to live with dad until they both told him that they might need to live with Granny Molly. In the end it didn't happen but if it really did happen this time it will be all his fault. Reverting in to a child Emeterius wailed, "Mommy, it was all my fault. It's because of me that Daddy is angry."

Dealing with a six year old acting like an upset toddler and a poker faced four year old left Hermione very lost. She tried to trust her instincts as she pulled the two children in and tried to sooth them by patting their backs. "No, we're not getting a divorce," she assured the children as she inwardly laughed at the hypocrisy of her words considering the two weren't actually married. However what worried her was the children's familiarity with divorce, that made her wonder what a rotten relationship her alternate self must had have had with the alternate Snape.

Despite this the older son had not calmed, Hermione was starting to get frustrated, unable to understand what the boy had done to make him believe his father was angry. There was an infinite number of things that could tick off the potions master but the man rarely held a grudge unless the offensive behavior had been continuously repeated. She doubted that the actions of a small child could be equal to the offenses of the Maruader's. She continued attempting to convince the boy that his actions had not angered his father but the boy was inconsolable. Frustrated and tired, Hermione gave up and coldly told the boy to stop crying and to go to sleep. With that Hermione got up, extinguished the light as she left the room.

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><p>Hermione had managed to sneak in to the room while her colleague had taken a shower. She had retrieved her night clothes and decided that she would take a shower in the children's bathroom instead of the one in the master suite. The room she noticed when she had entered it looked nothing like the comfortable and oddly familiar room she had awoken it. It was as though the potions master had rearranged the room to look more like what she assumed was the bachelors bedroom. Feeling unwelcome in the room she decided to limit her time in the room, she was inside the Potions Master's quarters making her a guest.<p>

Likewise Hermione decided after her shower that it would be wise to not disturb the Potion's Master and sleep in the living room. Hermione looked at the sofa and decided that it wouldn't be difficult to change it in to something more comfortable to sleep in. After transfiguring the couch in to a bed she spent a short moment admiring her wand work before settling in to bed.

In her transfigured bed she reviewed the events of the day, starting from the shock of waking up in her colleagues quarters, becoming acquainted with her children, coming out of the confusion about the alternate reality, learning about her alternate self and the possibility of a different Severus Snape. She thought back to the fairy tale like stories about her alternate selfs romance with an alternate Severus Snape. Her mind recalled images of her two young sons, the young beaming Severus look-alike that made her curious about the man behind the cold exterior. The younger boy who was the picture of an angel despite the hideous large nose but his cold exterior took away the magic from the boys eyes.

As she felt her eyelids feel heavy, Hermione heard a frightening scream coming from the master bedroom.

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><p>Okay, so that's it. I was working on this throughout the exam period and I tend to write more coherently in my opinion when I don't write in fragments because I can let my idea run it's course. I hope this chapter is acceptable even if it wasn't worth the wait.<p>

Again, I love constructive criticism as it help me improve my writing. That doesn't mean a nice review doesn't make my day. I won't cry over any flames or plain criticism so if you find it needed feel free to post those too. So please review, it really makes me happy to know that someone bothered read the story and say something about it.


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